Has religion ever brought you happeniness?

[ComradeMeow]

Growing up religion never brought me happiness or any sense of well being. Maybe when I was about 4-7 years of age but nothing incredible that would make me appreciate the religion. The topics of religions were always filled with hatred and disgust that it never appeal to me significantly and I always felt distant from them. For example homosexuals, people other faiths and especially atheists were all groups of humans that I was instinctively taught to hate yet I didn't have the emotional investment to hate anybody as a child despite what I was taught. 
I guess the primary factor for this is that my religious role model was my step-mother who was never a genuine or honest person and lacked the most basic elements of human decency or common knowledge. So I was significantly more intelligent than she was at a very young age and never took anything I was taught by her to heart. 

In short I never felt happy with my religion since I took the time to understand people and appreciate them and I could never reconcile basic parts of it with reality. Why are dinosaurs not mentioned in the bible if the world is 10,000 years old, how could Jonah be swallowed by a fish, why do miracles not happen now, and how can atheist reject the "evidence" of god so easily?

Did you religion bring you hope, peace, misery or did it make you confused like I did?

[CapnAwesome]

I grew up Catholic, and no. I think the main emotion it brought me was boredom.

[Jenny A]

Boredom first, than guilt, than more boredom. Followed by great heaps of puzzlement.

[Minimalist]

Every once in a while a busload of the fuckers goes into a ravine.

That's something!

[brewer]

As a child only. Some comfort (someone watching out for me), some fun (sunday school and summer camp) some pain in the ass (sitting through the service with no electronic toy to play with and constantly being hit on the back of the head for "misbehaving").

[abaris]

Boredom at mass, happiness, a clear no.

[Godscreated]

Not when I was young or even in my teen years, left church for a long time when I finally decided to take it serious, then I was extremely happy with what I came to know, teaching others and serving others opened up a new world for me.

GC

[Salacious B. Crumb]

I was a believer most of my life, and I was deeply religious the last few years before I decided to put my faith to the test, and look at it from an outside perspective. It failed miserably, and with haste. It did bring me quite a bit of joy and peace those last few years. I was truly convinced that I had a relationship with the characters in the bible, and fell out of it rather quickly because I had an open mind. When I became more spiritual, I felt the exact same feelings or “presence”, I felt when I was praying or “talking to god”. Then, when I lost faith in god, I meditated off and on for quite some time, and still do to this day a little bit. I still experience the exact same feelings when not even thinking about a god, as I’m sure every other religious person does, and calls it their version of god. I discerned the exact same pure feelings I was having, was chemicals in my brain, that made me feel very happy and relaxed.

Although, it was enjoyable at the time, I don’t miss it at all. There is a great deal of mental comfort with coming to terms with reality. I look at things and situations for what they are, which does help me through life, as opposed to trusting or praying for things to work out. I don’t delude myself anymore, thinking that everything bad or good that has ever happened to me was a plan from god, which is also consoling. This makes much more sense, because, if that were true, that would mean he was choosing certain people to have a better life over other people. It’s also good that I distanced myself from religion, and started thinking entirely for myself for the first time ever. The world makes much more sense to me now, as I begin to understand it more and more by the day, in terms of actual testable, observable evidence, rather than trying to make excuses for my prior beliefs that didn't synchronize well with facts. I'm glad that poisonous, destructive garbage is out of my head.

[Athene]

Overall, confusion was what I got as well, since religion doesn't blend well with reality. Casual or lukewarm Christians exist because they have to tuck religious indoctrination away in order to function effectively in the real world.

[Cephus]

Who cares? Happiness isn't a valid demonstration of reality. The most comforting lie in the world is still a lie, the most uncomfortable truth is still the truth. Anyone whose worldview is only based on being happy is an irrational idiot.